Town Square

voter question

Original post made
by voter, Another Pleasanton neighborhood,
on Nov 2, 2010

Hi all,

I am newish to CA and wanted to check something. When I voted today, nobody asked me for ID. I was asked name and address and given a ballot. What is to stop someone who knows your name and address from voting in your name? Just wondered . . .

Posted by voter
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Nov 2, 2010 at 4:19 pm

Thanks, I did have to sign my name, so that makes sense. I'd be happier if we had to show better proof of ID like Driver's License or similar though as votes are so important and there's a lot of ID theft here . . .

Posted by Too easy
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Nov 2, 2010 at 7:15 pm

I would have felt better if they had at least ASK my name. Instead they just ask address, then said "my name" for me to just say 'right'...then sign. Californians really disgust me with their acceptance and assistance for illegals to voted. !!
All kinds of people have to get fingerprints to work, would a photo or print, or saying ans being ask to SPELL your name, or ask anything would be a good start. It's time to get serious, What's the big deal about security, when anybody can vote.
I don't approve to mass mailing in of absentee ballots...the fraud is rampant. It's time for a bit of integrity in the process. Some people scream about campaigns, but don't get excited about voter fraud.

Posted by civics
a resident of Amador Estates
on Nov 3, 2010 at 9:44 am

I believe that you are not asked for an ID because a formal ID from the DMV cost money. Therefore, if we made everyone show an ID, that means they have to pay money to get it, which means they would have had to pay money in order to vote. And according to the 24th amendment, we can not have a poll tax because voting is free.

It is not the people at the voting place's fault. I overhead a guy yesterday as I was voting who was complaining to the poll workers about "well of course an illegal immigrant could come steal my identity". I was pretty disappointed that this guy was that ignorant to make such a comment. Luckily the woman who was working came back strongly and said "well I don't make laws and if you sign your name and its not really you, that is voter fraud and lying to the federal government so you can be arrested for that".

Posted by voter
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Nov 3, 2010 at 11:18 am

Maybe we should have free photo ID cards that come with registering to vote. Just to make sure that people who vote are actually the people who registered. Upon reflection, the system the way it is designed now does seem exposed to fraud, which is depressing when races can be very close.

Posted by LIVE voter
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Nov 3, 2010 at 9:27 pm

Look at the comments about our voting process. Very interesting. Yet "Editor" s RESTRICTED 'voter; thread has nothing....nada. Instead of cleaning up the Forum, just make them all RESTRICTED and there would be NO forum in a matter of days. . . . .message ?
Keep it loose and OPEN.

Posted by Fascinating...
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Nov 4, 2010 at 9:51 am

So I was reading on another thread here that Harmer is declaring that there were "irregularities" in the voting process for the CD-11 race, and his attorneys are likely going to demand a recount and an investigation. Here's an article on the topic:Web Link

In that article, it seems that there's an alarm being raised because of the high number of absentee ballots being brought into ("dumped on" in the Harmer team's words) the balloting places on election day. Gee, almost all of my neighbors voted by absentee (I believe they're called "mail-in" as well) ballots this year, and because of the complexities of the campaign issues, many of them did not decide on every candidate or proposition until this weekend or even Tuesday, so decided to WALK THEIR BALLOTS IN so the vote would count. Wow, fraud, no?? The answer is "no", this is a constitutional right here in California, not a crime.

In the same article, it also mentions "Provisional ballots, in particular, beg scrutiny because they are ballots for people who do not have proper identification when they vote." Well, hmmm, the forum topic here has established that people voting in person are also NOT asked for proper identification; a signature and knowledge of a street address are all that's required, with no cross-checking. You think they actually go through every signature sheet and match it up with the signature on file? And even if they did find an irregularity there, how would they know exactly which ballot to void?

Provisional ballots are usually for those cases where the person arrives at the polling place and there's no entry on their roster for that person. The person is given a provisional ballot and allowed to vote, then the ballot and name and signature are double-checked against the record on file to see if there was a name or address change or other snafu, before the provisional ballot is validated or tossed out.

Don't miss out on the discussion!Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.

Email:

Post a comment

Posting an item on Town Square is simple and requires no registration. Just complete this form and hit "submit" and your topic will appear online.
Please be respectful and truthful in your postings so Town Square will continue to be a thoughtful gathering place for sharing community information
and opinion. All postings are subject to our TERMS OF USE, and may be deleted if deemed inappropriate by our staff.

We prefer that you use your real name, but you may use any "member" name you wish.

Name:*

Select your neighborhood or school community:*

Comment:*

Verification code:* Enter the verification code exactly as shown, using capital and lowercase letters, in the multi-colored box.